Ninth Ember

Independent app & game studio

Small worlds, forged by hand.

Ninth Ember builds games and apps with the care of a workshop, not a factory. Every pixel placed on purpose, every system tuned until it feels right.

Play Crystal Road Meet the studio

Our apps

The first ember.

One game shipped, more on the anvil. Everything we release lives here.

An idle RPG that respects your time.

The shards are scattered. The road is long. Gather a party of six heroes and march them across ten hand-painted zones, from Greenhollow Fields to the Endless Road. Fights play out on their own. Tap to turn the tide when it matters.

Idle RPG Pixel art Original soundtrack Free · no ads · no accounts
  • Marches while you're away. Progress keeps rolling offline and is waiting when you return.
  • Six heroes, real choices. Knights, clerics, rogues and mages with abilities that charge in battle and hit harder when you cast them yourself.
  • Deep late game. Shatter to grow stronger, Delve for crystal keys, and chase milestone bosses on the Endless Road.
  • Ten original tracks. Every zone has its own theme.
Play free in your browser

Works on phones, tablets and desktop. App Store and Google Play releases are planned.

Crystal Road title screen

Live build, playable right here.

Early fight in Greenhollow Fields
A full party fighting in Emberwaste
The Heroes screen
The party at Ashen Keep

Crystal Road

Idle pixel-art RPG. Playable now in any browser, mobile builds on the way.

Something is smoldering

The next project is in the forge. Follow along, or write us if you want early builds.

Your idea

We take on a small number of app builds for partners each year. Tell us what you want to make.

The studio

Why "Ninth Ember"?

When a fire dies down, the last embers still hold enough heat to start it again. We build the things that keep glowing: small, focused apps that people come back to, made by a team small enough to care about every detail.

  • Respect the player's time.No ads, no dark patterns, no manipulative timers. If something is fun, it does not need tricks.
  • Tune, then tune again.Crystal Road's balance was shaped by thousands of simulated playthroughs before real ones. We measure, then we adjust.
  • Ship small, ship often.A working build every week beats a perfect one next year.
  • Own what we make.Original music, original systems, and licensed art we credit by name.

Get in touch

Say hello.

Press, partnerships, bug reports, or just to tell us your best Endless Road wave.

hello@ninthember.com